Summary

Digital photograph of burnt farm sheds taken by Robin McDonald at her beef property at Rosewhite, in Happy Valley, north east Victoria in February-July 2009.

Robin and her husband David, have been farming on this property since 1963, and were directly affected by the 2009 February bushfires which started in the early hours of Sunday 8th February 2009.

This photograph is part of the Victorian Bushfires Collection and is supported by an oral and video interview undertaken with Robin and David McDonald.

Description of Content

David McDonald viewing the burnt sheds on his cattle property, following the 'Black Saturday' Bushfires. 'Memories came flooding back for David as he viewed the wreckage. As a schoolboy he milked the house cow in a pen in the shed every day. He had shorn sheep and baled wool in it and he had stacked hay and fertiliser in it. In the hours and years he had spent working in it, he could never have imagined this was how it would end.' - Robin McDonald [Happy Valley resident, 19th August 2010].

Physical Description

Colour digital photograph

Significance

This collection of photographs contributes to understanding the experience of primary producers during the 2009 February bushfires. They particularly document the fires in north east Victoria, which were known as the Beechworth fires. These fires were responsible for the destruction of the greatest amount of public and private land in Victoria during the 2009 bushfires, and raise many issues and themes specific to the geographic nature of this area.

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